Experiencing "Display Driver stopped responding and has recovered"

[fosho]

Yesterday I recieved my new Sapphire AMD HD6970, and since installing it I am experiencing the "Display driver stopped responding and has recovered" error. It happens while idling at the desktop, surfing the internet, or while playing a game.

Before I installed the new card, I first uninstalled the previous ATI drivers, rebooted in safe mode, ran Driver Sweeper and CC Cleaner, shutdown, installed the 6970, booted up and installed the latest drivers from the AMD website (10.12).

I was experiencing the same error before with my ATI Radeon HD4650, and I was hoping the new card would fix it, but alas it has not. I have tried most of the "fixes" I have read about on the internet, and none of them has fixed the problem.

My specs are:

Core i7 860
ASUS P7P55D-E
Sapphire AMD HD6970
G.skill Ripjaws 8GB
1 TB Seagate Barracuda 7200 rpm

Can anyone help me? I am sure you all know how frustrating it is to get a new component (especially the GPU), and not have it work properly.

Thanks!

 

[bystander]

My guess, based on past problems of this sort, is you got a card with a bad VRM or the thermal tape applied to the VRM allowing it to overheat.

I'd return or exchange it if you can.

 

[casl]

I'm having this same issue. First it occurred with HD 5770 1GB from MSI. I thought that the card was broken, so I bought and replaced it with a brand new Sapphire HD6870 1GB, reinstalled Windows 7 (64-bit), installed newest 10.12a CCC, updated BIOS etc. but I'm still having the same issue over and over again. I haven't changed voltages or overclocked either of them.

Mobo: Asus M4A89GTD
CPU: AMD X6 1055t
Mem: Kingston ValueRAM 2GB x 4
PSU: Corsair 750HX
GFX: Sapphire Radeon HD 6870 1GB

I also ran MemTest but it didn't give any signs of faulty memory. I don't even know if it is a driver issue, as the 5770 worked properly for until January. I tried downgrading drivers back to 10.10 when I had 5770 installed, but it was no use.

 

[Pallimud]

I'd try the card on another machine then, two bad cards seems less likely, but it is possible. It could be you have some power issue.

 

[fosho]

The problem originally started with my old card, an Radeon HD4650. I never had any problems with it until a month ago, when this problem started happening. So I decided to replace that card with a HD6970, and the problem still persisted.

How do I tell if I am having power issues?

 

[Pallimud]

If you have a PSU tester then you can test the power supply. Or if you have a multimeter.

If you have neither, then your best bet would be to try the card in another machine that has a good power supply, if it is working then you know the issue isn't the card.

You can check with a local computer store to see if they can test your PSU. If they charge you only $10 or less then it is worth it.

 

[Pallimud]

You might be able to get a general idea of power output through your system BIOS. Consult the Asus manual to see if your motherboard supplies that information. Take it with a grain of salt though, it will probably be 90% accurate, but enough to get you an idea.

You can post your results to continue to troubleshoot.

 

[haberdasher1979]

Hi,

I experienced the same problem on my pc. I was browsing on some websites and at the same time browsing some videos from youtube through RealPlayer. My screen suddenly went black and back and then it said that the display driver had stopped responding and has recovered. The pc restarted and I was asked to choose between running in safe mode or running windows normally. I chose to run normally but when it displayed the desktop it stopped responding. I restarted the pc and ran in safe mode. I restarted the pc, this time I was asked if I would like to run Startup Repair or run normally. I chose to repair. When the repair was done, the pc restarted but it wouldn't get past through the screen that displays the animated windows logo.
I reboot the pc again and was able to restore to a previous system setting but that still didn't work.

Here's what I have:
core i3 2100
intel DH61WW mother board
2GB ram
using on board graphics and audio (no video cards)
generic power supply that comes with the casing